Toronto at a crossroads: Will Ford’s austerity agenda be derailed? | rabble.caExcerpts: Lost in the rhetoric is the fact that there actually is a “revenue” problem, a problem that is deeply connected to the larger austerity agenda.The city’s budget is …
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Driving The Porcelain Bus: Hey, Mayor Mud! I want my vote back!
Toronto News: James: A thousand times no – thestar.comFor those who couldn’t or wouldn’t see the writing on the wall during the election campaign, and ended up believing Rob Ford’s promises and voted for him, many now want their votes back. Ford said h…
Continue readingDriving The Porcelain Bus: Can you balance the budget (for Toronto)?
Meat or gravy: Can you balance the budget? – thestar.comThe Toronto Star has put together this interactive budget calculator. Although it seems they put this together with good intentions, they are missing some key items:Missing as a choice from the Re…
Continue readingDriving The Porcelain Bus: Rob Ford sleeps through deputations
Just saw this on FB via Mark B “Rob Ford sleeps through … on TwitpicOn July 28, 2011, The Executive Committee of Toronto City Council, agreed to hear citizen deputations, as invited by the mayor, Rob Ford. 344 people managed to register to speak. Ori…
Continue readingDriving The Porcelain Bus: Opinion piece blaming food banks misses the point
It’s time to close Canada’s food banks – The Globe and MailElaine Power may be an associate professor, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t on crack. In her piece (link above)l, she goes to town blaming food banks for various problems and says they should b…
Continue readingDriving The Porcelain Bus: Rob Ford refused to pay election fines
City officials waived fines related to Ford’s election campaign – The Globe and MailRob Ford was fined $13,362.25 for 483 infractions of the bylaw governing the placement of election signs. He delayed almost a month past the due day for appealing the…
Continue readingTerahertz: “Not an inch of space”
Never mind that Europe is supposed to be all metric all the time, here’s a quote relating to yesterday’s tragedy: "That the perpetrator apparently comes from the far-right scene shows once again how dangerous racist and anti-foreigner ideologies are," Germany’s opposition Greens said in a statement. "We must not allow them an inch of space […]
Continue readingTrashy's World: Canada’s right – many are narrow minded and reactive hypocrites
I might have more to say about this later, but for now I just want to highlight the idiocy of some on the right of the spectrum here in Canada. Yesterday, when the news broke about the tragedy in Norway, the response by many in the Twitterverse, blogosphere and in the comments sections of news […]
Continue readingTerahertz: On the Oslo blasts
By now you’re probably aware of the explosion and subsequent shooting that happened today (yesterday there?) in Oslo, Norway. If not, go read then come back. Going off the details that are undisputed as of now, a bomb was set off in downtown Oslo, near the government buildings and later a man dressed as a […]
Continue readingDriving The Porcelain Bus: Is Mayor Rob Ford a liar, con-man or just ignorant? The facts say yes
The Grid TO | Top five Ford truthiness fact checks of the weekMost of the article by Edward Keenan at The Grid:This week, the brothers Ford have had a particularly bad week with fact checkers. Here’s a rundown, in no particular order, of their greate…
Continue readingDriving The Porcelain Bus: Poster > Cyclist response to "Rob Ford’s Bike Plan"
Fuck Ford poster protests Rob Ford’s bike planAt the link is a poster created in response to Rob Ford’s bike plan (removing bike lanes from convenient streets for cyclists, and then building bike lanes in out-of-the-way places).Ironic how Ford’s bike p…
Continue readingDriving The Porcelain Bus: Rob Ford will raise taxes next year
Ford opens door on 3% tax hike | Toronto & GTA | News | Toronto SunAfter promising to not raise taxes or cut services, and, after finding that there is/was no waste at City Hall, and, after squandering over $533 million, Rob Ford is eyeing raising …
Continue readingDriving The Porcelain Bus: Toronto Cuts Just Beginning
Here is a note Mark MacLennan posted on Facebook.Toronto Cuts Just Beginningby Mark MacLennanPlease circulate this any way you can. I took the time to read through all of this stuff so it would be less of a slog to get through for anyone who is inter…
Continue readingDriving The Porcelain Bus: Rob Ford continues to lie to the public as he wastes more money and increases the deficit
Ford’s financial numbers don’t add up – The Globe and MailRob Ford claimed the other day to have saved the city $70 million in the first six months. In this Globe & Mail story, they reported that most of that was the money from the vehicle regi…
Continue readingDriving The Porcelain Bus: Torontonians to Rob Ford: Hands off our libraries!
Poll shows Torontonians oppose closing local libraries and library privatization – councilors take note < Libraries, Privatization, Ontario | CUPEThe Toronto Public Library Workers Union commissioned Forum Research to ask Torontonians about Ford’s…
Continue readingDriving The Porcelain Bus: Ford’s consultants: Miller was right
The Grid TO | Ford’s consultants: Miller was rightLook wait-and-give-him-a-chance people and Ford followers: even the consultants, who Ford wasted a lot of money on, agree with David Miller, 1/3 of the councillors, and just over half the people in Toro…
Continue readingDriving The Porcelain Bus: Possible explanation for Rob Ford’s ignorant blunders
Is he running a government or making widgets? – Peace, order and good government, eh?This is Ford explaining to talk radio host John Oakley why he thinks Toronto’s labour costs are too high and there should be large reductions in staffing:In business, …
Continue readingDriving The Porcelain Bus: Noncommittal Rob Ford brushes off $130 million + $49 million wasted in cancelling Transit City
Metro – Ford deals death blow to Transit CityToronto must pay at least $49M to cancel LRT planI was waiting for more numbers to come in before posting this. So far, we have a waste, by Ford, of $179 million.From the Metro article:Ford was noncommittal …
Continue readingDriving The Porcelain Bus: Rob Ford’s Gravy Train – another $43.4 million please
City takes over debt-ridden Leafs practice facility – thestar.comThe City of Toronto will take over interim management of the debt-plagued Lakeshore Lions Arena while it seeks to find a new operator for the four-pad rink that opened two years ago.The f…
Continue readingOn the Ontario PCs’ platform
[Sorry for the double-post. Had some unfixable errors in the previous version.]So, here we go with the Ontario PC Platform, the Changebook (warning: PDF). Or is that the Change Book? ChangeBook? I don’t know, and I don’t think they do, either.According…
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